Globilization is the Enemy of Democracy Essay

- Globalization is a process of increasing integration and the result of economic, cultural and political interdependence among countries. Globalization has been a controversial debate, since this phenomenon has affected the world in several ways. Consequently, there are plenty of economic, cultural and political arguments in favor of and against it. Some arguments in favor of globalization are that it promotes democracy, creates jobs (by dividing labor around the world), promotes knowledge and an interconnected world, and makes the world “borderless.” On the other hand, globalization is evil because transnational corporations exploit workers abroad, countries lose their own identities, promotes consumerism, destroys the environment and, most importantly, instead of improving a country’s society and economy, it actually creates more poverty.

At this point of time, globalization has grown to be a phenomenon that is significantly important economically, politically, and culturally. The amalgamation and incorporation of the world economy around the globe has reshaped business. Not only this, it has created "new social classes, different jobs, unimaginable wealth, and, occasionally, wretched poverty" (Kiggundu 2002, p. 4) by restructuring the lives of the individuals. For some, globalization is associated to modernism and contemporary practices. Others understand it as American domination (particularly those living in Asia). On the other hand, some people believe it to be the emasculation of America (Kiggundu 2002, p. 4).

In theory, globalization should help contribute to the equality of the global economy. Yet this is not the case in reality. Globalization contributes to unsustainable prosperity for a very small percentage of the world’s population. For those in developing countries, it is especially unsustainable. The resources in these areas are consumed at an unstable rate and the environment given very little consideration. The workers are treated as if they are expendable. The smaller economies of these countries are vastly taken advantage of. For these reasons, globalization contributes to sustainable prosperity to a small extent.

In the modern world we live in, globalization creates inequality despite its significant role in our economy. Globalization is the integration among nations of political views, products, ideas, and cultures. Utilizing modern technologies, international trade are made possible among large corporations and individuals around the world. With these advanced technologies, these corporations are able to build factories around the world, expand their production, and supply the world populous with more consumer goods. Unfortunately, these pros come with a cost. Despite the amazing contributions that globalization has brought, these corporations have resorted into using cheap labor and regulate unequal rights for workers in the global scale.

The globalization and corporate expansion of American companies has promoted inequality in the United States and the world, largely through means defined to be inhumane. Corporate America has embraced a ‘hands-free’ method of globalization. By both outsourcing labor and targeting more consumer groups, especially those yearning for the American Dream, corporate America has successfully increased profits. Almost everyone on earth is feeling the negative effects of corporate America’s actions. By outsourcing labor, prohibiting unions, disadvantaging women, and driving wages down, globalization and corporate expansion advocates for inequality in both the United States and the rest of the world.

In today’s landscape, globalization is surely a highly-loaded term and one that cannot be denied. However, it cannot be accurately evaluated without taking into consideration the point of view of those who have be most heavily impacted, or “globalized” by its spread. Things do not appear as black and white as certain agents of globalization, such as governments or corporations may want to believe and even portray it as such. In both literature and reality, it can be seen that there are more than one side to every issue, and the concept cannot be considered ethically without spending time in consideration of those most significantly affected. Our initial vision of globalization is one that has been sugar coated

The world is undergoing a highly volatile atmosphere, both socially and politically. What is at the forefront of this volatility? Global inequality. For many decades, groups of the world’s population, particularly in the poorest areas, are continuing to get squeezed by the weight by the radically uneven distribution of income. When this problem extends to globalization, it is heavily ambiguous in terms of its long-term implications, socially and politically as well. When one explores the fascinating limits of globalization, it is possible to consider why many in the world’s population have various reservations about its real outreach on a worldwide scale. When considering the reach of globalization and its increasingly apparent correlation with income inequality at–large, one gets the sense that because there are limited amount of alternatives at the amount in the eyes of the disillusioned and disproportionately affected, a resistance is developing towards some of the elements.

There is no topic in present international relations that attracts more noise than the concept of globalization. This is because of its deep controversial nature. Many scholars argue that advocates of globalization argue that it allows poor countries and their citizens to develop economically and raise their standards of living, while antagonists of it contend that the creation of an unregulated international free market has profited multinational corporations in the Western world at the expense of local enterprises, local cultures, and common people.

As the societies and technology progress, the global market continues to expand every day. Globalization in its current state seems to be a dichotomy of wishing to help poverty on a global scale and wishing to use its existence to get ahead. Nonetheless, the line is too often blurred between the two. Alison Brysk begins her academic book Globalization and Human Rights with her own definition, saying, “Globalization is a package of transnational flows of people, production, investment, information, ideas and authority” (1). Fueled by the strict laws and regulations regarding labor practices in countries such as those in Europe and America, many businesses in the industrialized world look toward developing countries with the least labor regulations for production purposes. This phenomenon has become known as the “race to the bottom” in major media. As multinational corporations attempt to get ahead through this process, it has exacerbated global inequity by providing workers in developing countries with the production company’s minimum wages and protections. This growing issue caused by particular industries will be given as context before showing the ways global inequity can be combatted on an individual business level and a governmental level.

Secondly, the debate over income inequality effects of globalization focus on two aspects: Inequality within nations and inequality between countries. The first concerns inequality among individuals inside a country. (Wild and Wild, 2010, p. 48) Critics of globalization believes that free trade and global investment within the internalization incite transnational companies to close factories and move them from high-wage developed countries to low-wage developing countries, which increases the gap between office workers and manual workers within rich nations. (Wild and Wild, 2010, p. 48) In addition, many critics including from Bartlett and Steele (1996), two journalists for the Philadelphia Inquirer, believe that depressing wages in developed nations is the result of the large growth in the international labor force joined with the expansion of the global trade brought by the globalization. (Hill and Hult, 2014, p. 23) Moreover, Hill (2014) support Bartlett and Steele opinion as he stated that organizations that outsources its services into lower-cost foreign markets for lower labor costs were contributing to higher unemployment and lower living standards in their home nations. (Hill and Hult, 2014, p. 24) As an example to support those critics we can consider the case of Apple, the multi billions dollar company that operates its factories in China. According to an article of Oster (2017) Apple pays its workers more or less 305 dollars monthly which is less than 2 dollars

There are a lot of good and bad things about globalization but each person has their own opinion and view on this subject and what they outcome will be.

Like most things in the world, globalization is neither completely good or completely bad. Globalization can be both a beneficial and destructive force to the world. The largest impacts of globalization are seen economically, environmentally, and socially. By examining globalization in these ways, one can see that globalization is not inherently positive or negative.

Globalization has failed on its promise of making the playing fields even between countries. Globalization has failed because in certain countries the life expectancy rates are decreasing. Many people have seen their jobs being demolished due to outsourcing. Globalization has affected people's lives since they lost their jobs. They are feeling powerless, because when they lost their jobs they won’t be able to pay their bills. When you can’t pay your bills, late fees will be added to the amount of money you owe. Due to this you can lose your home, this affects life expectancy rates because if you lose your home, you won’t be able to live on the street for a long time. This situation will most likely occur in developing nations than developed nations because developed nations have a higher advantage. Globalization was created to improve people’s lives, but it did the opposite. Globalization is now destroying people’s lives and decreasing life expectancy rates.

“It has been said that arguing against globalization is like arguing against the laws of gravity” (Kofi Annan, Former Secretary General of the United Nations). Globalization has had and will continue to have a lasting impact on our modern every-day lives. While some United States citizens may not even be able to locate Beijing, China on a map, they sure do purchase many goods that were made there.

There are many disadvantages and advantages to globalization. Globalization has become an economic trend across the world. Although Globalization is not a modern theory it’s been the saving grace of many companies in the twenty first century. Globalization has existed forever, we have many historical examples of globalization. England’s earlier history proves this, the war with China and England began over Globalization, the English want to trade and infiltrate the Chinese Economy but china